| 1. ‘THE NEW YORK TIMES’ EDITORIAL LEADS NEW LIVE EVENT PUSH: The New York Times is testing out a new live event strategy led by the company’s editorial team. The live event push begins the Times’ inaugural food festival this fall and provides a new way for the company to make revenue. The Drum: “The paper isn’t a complete stranger to the world of live events, having run a 35,000-delegate New York Times Travel Show since 2005. However, the Food Festival, slated to run across the brand’s hometown in early October, will see it level up to the production values of its rival publishers with its first original live product for consumers—not trade. … Providing the event is an editorial and commercial success, then the Times will begin to invest more in the live events space. What that investment would turn into is unclear currently, but Lisa Howard, the company’s senior vice-president general manager for media, throws around ideas about expansion outside of New York, a bigger festival with wider programming and the creation of new events in other verticals such as travel.” 2. SAINT LAURENT ALLEGEDLY VIOLATED ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS WITH MALIBU BEACH EVENT: In June, Saint Laurent staged its spring/summer 2020 menswear show on a boardwalk on a hidden beach in Malibu called Paradise Cove. City officials and residents are now alleging the French brand violated multiple environmental regulations that protect Malibu’s delicate natural resources, which include grunion, a type of fish that were expected to spawn on the sand that evening. City officials said the brand went around the city’s permit approval process by applying for a filming permit from a city contractor, after it was denied an event permit by the local government. Vogue Business: “‘They built a boardwalk all the way across the beach. They shored it up with plastic sandbags, which are illegal in the city,’ says Matt Myerhoff, a spokesman for Malibu’s city hall. ‘People were outraged.’ It isn’t clear how much Saint Laurent, which worked with outside contractors on the event, knew about local environmental regulations. Saint Laurent and its corporate parent, Kering, declined to comment. But Kering chief executive and chairman François-Henri Pinault has been made aware of what happened.” 3. IDAHO MUSIC FESTIVAL CANCELED OVER IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT CONCERNS: A music festival in southern Idaho has been canceled over concerns of possible raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The music festival, called El Tour de Idaho de Los Inquietos, was slated to take place Saturday in Jerome, Idaho. Organizers posted the cancellation on Facebook. Billboard: “Leo Morales of A.C.L.U. of Idaho said he couldn’t confirm that any Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in southern Idaho, but he said community members were panicked. … Jerome City Police Dan Hall said he didn’t have information about ICE agents in the area. ‘It is absolutely possible that ICE could do a raid and we wouldn’t know about it,’ he said.” | 